ANS is committed to advancing, fostering, and promoting the development and application of nuclear sciences and technologies to benefit society.
Explore the many uses for nuclear science and its impact on energy, the environment, healthcare, food, and more.
Division Spotlight
Radiation Protection & Shielding
The Radiation Protection and Shielding Division is developing and promoting radiation protection and shielding aspects of nuclear science and technology — including interaction of nuclear radiation with materials and biological systems, instruments and techniques for the measurement of nuclear radiation fields, and radiation shield design and evaluation.
Meeting Spotlight
2024 ANS Winter Conference and Expo
November 17–21, 2024
Orlando, FL|Renaissance Orlando at SeaWorld
Standards Program
The Standards Committee is responsible for the development and maintenance of voluntary consensus standards that address the design, analysis, and operation of components, systems, and facilities related to the application of nuclear science and technology. Find out What’s New, check out the Standards Store, or Get Involved today!
Latest Magazine Issues
Oct 2024
Jul 2024
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
November 2024
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
The D&D of SM-1A
With the recent mobilization at the site of the former SM-1A nuclear power plant at Fort Greely, Alaska, the Radiological Health Physics Regional Center of Expertise, located at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Baltimore District, began its work toward the decommissioning and dismantlement of its third nuclear power plant, this time located just 175 miles south of the Arctic Circle.
Jawaria Ahad, Amjad Farooq, Masroor Ahmad, Naseem Irfan, Khalid Waheed
Nuclear Technology | Volume 210 | Number 10 | October 2024 | Pages 1767-1823
Review Article | doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2024.2302716
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Severe accidents in nuclear power plants can breach the integrity of containment due to pressure build up, resulting in the release of radioactive products. Special interest has been shown towards iodine out of 80 fission products due to its short half-life, i.e., 8.02 days, high activity, and possible health hazards, like irreversible accumulation in the thyroid gland and capability to trigger thyroid cancer locally. To mitigate such accidents, the filtered containment venting system (FCVS) has been proposed and has garnered attention post Fukushima. This review paper presents an introduction to severe accidents, post-accident release of iodine, safety measures taken, and lessons learned by different countries after accidents like Windscale pile, Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, and Fukushima, as well as the status of FCVSs in all countries possessing nuclear reactors up until now (11 years after Fukushima).
FCVS is crucial for mitigation of severe accidents and to ensure the safety of people and the environment. A complete review of the history of FCVS, how its use started, its current status, and the status of patents and research on this system has not been done yet to the best of authors’ knowledge. This review covers FCVS in detail, including its history, design criteria and efficiency, as well as the different types and their merits and demerits.
Completed and ongoing projects related to FCVS are discussed along with testing facilities of FCVS established by different countries. Many countries have made FCVS a part of their power plants, and some are in the process of installation. Many countries have not opted to install this system because of challenges, like its high cost, the technical difficulties of installing FCVS on old power plants, and the potential environmental impact of venting in FCVS.
This review paper will be helpful in providing an in-depth understanding of this system, the merits of FCVS, the parts of FCVS that need improvement, its limitations, and the status of research on this subject, along with areas of research that require more attention.
